Animal Behavior
An Electronic Fence Was the Only Deterrent Between Us
A seemingly safe walk turns into an attack
Introduction
One of my favorite forms of exercise has always been walking. Any time the weather was in my favor I would be out there enjoying nature, getting exercise, and feeling perfectly safe, until one night when I wasn’t.
A new walking buddy
Having always walked alone I was thrilled to adopt a little Lhasa Apso who I named Roy. He quickly became my walking buddy as he was full of energy and loved being outdoors. Whenever he heard me take the leash down from the hook it was on, he knew we’d be getting ready for one of our long walks and he’d dance in little circles by the door.
We avoided heavily wooded areas, due to bears, and heavily trafficked areas to keep safe, especially being I loved to walk later in the evening.
Along the trail we favored which led to a lake road, it was necessary to walk passed this house on the corner which included a large yard and a long dog enclosure.
One night as we were coming up on this property, a large Boxer seemed to come from out of nowhere and very menacingly began barking at us. For an instant, I was scared because it was out of its cage, but the owner, who was right behind him, assured me that there was an electronic fence surrounding the perimeter and the dog could do us no harm.
Just seeing this dog barking wildly and jumping toward the edge of his property made my hair stand up, but reassured we were not in danger, we continued on our way.
Roy and I continued our nightly walks around the corner by this house with the large dog where it sounded like the barking was becoming more menacing. In my mind, he seemed to be getting closer to reaching us, but we kept walking and avoided making eye contact with him.
His barking would continue until we rounded the corner and were out of sight. As far as I could see, he was alone on the property most of the time and not confined to his cage.
How did he get out?
One night, during our usual walk I was sure the dog was closer than normal and it turned out I was right for as I walked passed him suddenly I felt something like a vice grip on my hip.
I guess my butt was too tempting for him and he jumped right through the electronic fence and bit me right in the side of my butt toward my hip. I could see the top of his head and his wide open mouth which seemed to be stuck on my Spandex pants.
He couldn’t clamp down, because his teeth were caught in the material of my tight stretch polyester pants. This prevented him from getting a good bite into my flesh, but he wasn’t willing or able to let go, either.
The pain was horrendous. My eyes were watering from pain and a big scream emanated from my lips — I had no choice but to whack him in the head with my flashlight to release his grip on me.
He continued pulling on my hip trying to either get a better bite in or get his teeth free, then finally somehow he managed to become loose of the hold he had on me.
While screaming at the top of my lungs, my dog circled on his leash yapping at the Boxer trying to protect us even though he was about 1/10th his size, the big dog bent down and took two bites out of my poor little dog, then ran back through the electronic fence and onto his property as if he never left.
Still screaming on the side of the road with a bloody dog, and in excruciating pain, I had no idea if the dog was going to attack again, and I didn’t know what to do? We couldn’t just walk away. We were attacked by a dangerous dog, and we may both need medical attention.
In the meantime, a car pulled up a little passed where we were standing and a man jumped out and ran over to us yelling, “I saw the whole thing, are you alright?” At the same time this lady, apparently the other owner of the dog, came out of her house and started yelling over to us, “What’s going on? Why are you screaming?”
When I told her that her dog just bit me she insisted it was impossible because they have an electronic fence that he would never pass through and he’s on her property now, so what am I talking about?
Lucky for me, this Good Samaritan from the parked car yelled back to her, “It’s true, he jumped onto the road, bit this lady then her dog, then ran back onto your property!”
At this point, I stopped shaking enough to check my dog using my flashlight to get a better look at his injuries. He had a few bloody teeth marks but wasn’t hurt badly. Aside from frantically barking, I could tell he was scared because his eyes were bulging, so I picked him up to comfort him.
Not the dog’s first rodeo!
The owner changed her attitude when she realized what had just transpired and yelled down to me, “Please don’t call the police, they’ll put my dog to sleep. You’re the third person he’s bitten! He’s an old dog, let him live out his life.”
Seriously, he bit other people?! But my heart instantly went out to the dog even though he attacked me. I love animals, and I wouldn’t want any harm to come to any of them, even ones with steel jaws that like to hang by their teeth off people’s butts!
She said she’d pay for any expenses that I had and promised to keep the dog in this large closed-in pen that was already outside on their property. (Why wasn’t he already in it if they knew he bit people?)
The man from the car provided me with his name and phone number and said to call if I need a witness or if she doesn’t keep her word. The woman came down to the road and gave me her insurance info and we exchanged phone numbers but I knew I wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it, we survived and I believed she would keep the dog contained.
Roy and I made it home safely and were calmer by that time.
. My dog’s bite marks weren’t deep and he survived the ordeal. Poor thing, he’s such a trouper, never screamed or cried or whimpered, just barked and tried to protect me. Now I had to find the courage to look at my wound, which wasn’t bleeding, but very painful.
After undressing I tried to look down at the bite mark but the angle was not good without a mirror. Once I could see the whole side of my hip I could clearly see a red ring of teeth marks, which over the next few days turned dark purple.
Thank goodness for Spandex pants
Had I not been wearing those pants that night, I’m sure it would have been worse all around. Fortunately, because he was an older dog and his teeth weren’t that sharp he wasn’t able to bite through my pants like a shark or I probably would have lost a good chunk of my thigh.
True to her word, she kept the dog contained and he never seemed to even notice us after that. Still, it bothered me that they left the dog loose on their property knowing he got upset and tried to charge at people when they walked by.
Oh, you bad dog!
But here’s the rest of the story. I had a dental appointment down the street from my house a few weeks later and as I was telling the story to the receptionist she said, “Oh, no, you’re not the third person he’s bitten. I know for a fact there were at least 4 others before you, and one was one of her kids!”
Maybe I should have reported it to the police, but it’s not the dog’s fault that the owners put him in that position. He was an old dog, and he did die about 6 months after the incident, I was to find out through neighbors. The poor thing may have had an illness and was maybe in pain, or lost his ability to remember earlier training, either way, I was happy he was at peace.
But how was he able to leap through the fence after I was reassured that it worked properly and the batteries were checked regularly? Curious, I found some very interesting information from others who owned electronic fences.
I heard that animals, particularly dogs, have various reactions to electronic fences. Some will know it will zap them and they avoid it, some will run through it, anyway, and some like the dog that bit me will fool you into thinking he’s not going to jump through it, allowing himself to become de-sensitized to the zap by taking little zaps at a time before he makes his move and runs through.
That’s probably how that Boxer got to me, then ran back through it again to go home. Apparently, every time he looked like he was coming closer to the road, he was, and taking little zaps each night until the time was right.
My dog lived to a ripe old age
My dog Roy lived for another decade and gave me so much love and laughs and never let his small size prevent him from protecting me when he thought I needed it. I buried him in my backyard and mourned him with lit candles and flowers for a whole month. On his grave marker, I wrote, “Here lies one brave little dog!”
Thanks so much for reading. If you enjoyed my story, here are a couple more you may like. To be added to my mailing list, click here. Feel free to reply to any of my stories. Happy reading!